Lord Brocket

Fifty-two year old Charlie ¨C also known as Sir Charles Ronald George Nall-Cain, Third Baron Brocket, had no idea what he was letting himself in for by agreeing to take part in 2004s “Im a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here” on ITV1 ¨C he has not seen a single episode of the hit series and had never heard of Ant and Dec before agreeing to take part in the hit show!

But he didnt feel he was at a disadvantage for not having seen the show. As an old-Etonian and ex-convict, he felt that his lifes experiences have more than prepared him for the hardships of the jungle.

Lord Brocket hit the headlines when he was sent to prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud an insurance company. He served two and a half years in seven prisons. The former army lieutenant says his time in prison was something which, whilst he wouldnt wish to repeat it, made him a much better person, with a much greater tolerance of others.

His experiences form part of his fascinating life story. His father died when he was just 9 years old. The title of Lord Brocket passed to him at the age of 21 when his grandfather died and he inherited the crumbling ruin, Brocket Hall. But his grandfather left him in poverty. Brocket borrowed some money from an American bank (no British bank would touch him) and he set about converting his home into one of the worlds foremost hotel and conference venues. Friends were invited to weekend demolition parties to smash down walls, rewire the electrics and rebuild the antiquated plumbing. Today, Lord Brocket still owns the Hall, in Hertfordshire, which is worth an estimated 542 million. It is rented out on a long-term lease to a German consortium.

At the age of 29, Lord Brocket married his wife Isa, then one of the worlds foremost models. They had three children, Alexander, Antalya and William. But few people realised that whilst they were one of the richest and most famous couples in Britain, their marriage was falling apart and his wife had become addicted to painkillers.

In the Eighties, he started to buy classic Ferraris as an investment. They increased their value tenfold in just a couple of years and his bank funded him to develop a proper business buying and selling Ferraris. Then the classic car industry collapsed virtually overnight and the bank reclaimed the loan ¨C and planned to seize Brocket Hall.

Faced with losing his family home and business, Lord Brocket made what he now says was the most foolish and wrong decision of his life, for which he will always be desperately sorry. He and his wife and two mechanics arranged to have four Ferraris dismantled, pretended they had been stolen, then they put in an insurance claim of 54.5 million. In fact, he never collected any of the money because the bank came up with a rescue package and the insurance claim was withdrawn. Nothing would have happened had Isa not later been arrested for forging drug prescriptions and she told the police about the plot. Brocket was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy to fraud. Whilst inside, he was stabbed and narrowly escaped with his life ¨C and he established friendships and relationships which endure to this day.

He now lives in London, works as an architect and also gets an income from his ancestral home.

He has written his autobiography, which he hopes will be released later in 2004, and he is also in talks with a number of film companies about a screenplay of his adventures.Lord Brocket is brought to you in agreement with his personal manager, Nicola Ibison.